The present invention relates to a process for the manufacture of a wool fabric for beds, more particularly a mattress cover, and to the fabric obtained by said process.
It is known that wool fabrics and blankets are susceptible of being easily worn out and do not stand strong pressures and/or rubbings. In fact wool flocks and yarns inevitably tend to twist and clot in an uneven manner when they are submitted to strong stresses. As a result, when the yarns are so entangled and tensioned the wool loses most of its physical characteristics. For those reasons wool blankets have always been disposed over a sleeping person and never viceversa as they cannot endure the weight of a person and the movements she or he makes without getting spoilt due to the occurrence of the above mentioned phenomena also called "pilling".
Studies carried out by the same applicant have however proved that thermal insulation is necessary and important not only over a resting person by means of the traditional blankets, but also under the same, close to the mattress. In fact it has been found that about 40% of heat disperses in the mattress direction and that therefore a good protection given by blankets might be insufficient or cause lack of equilibrium between the different parts of a body alternatively turned towards the blankets and the mattress.
On the other hand it is known that a thermal insulation in the region of the mattresses is very difficult when it is not accomplished by the mattresses themselves. In fact as an additional insulating material it is not possible to use either wool blankets or other perspiration-reducing fabrics or fibers. This is due to the fact that the direct pressure exerted by a person lying on those fabrics immediately causes an excessive humidification of the same. As a consequence of that only cotton covers are laid over mattresses these covers only aiming at preventing the mattress from being soiled or spoilt and not at increasing its thermal insulation.
Further studies carried out by the same applicant have also proved that for a person lying on a bed not only a correct heat distribution and a good perspiration are important but also the dispersion of the electrostatic energy previously stored. In fact the experience teaches that the normal movements of a person give rise to a great storage of electrostatic charges. For example, said electrostatic charges are produced in working areas or buildings where floors are covered with moquette and they do not disperse upon contact with a bed. In fact the portion of bed contacting a resting person is substantially insulated from the ground and moreover the spontaneous movements of a resting person can remarkably increase the electrostatic energy on a human body.
Some experiments carried out by the same applicant have proved that even people who during their normal daylife live in environments that do not promote the storage of electrostatic charges, may store an electrostatic energy of substantially at least 30 nanocoulombs while sleeping, due to the above mentioned rubbing movements against a bed.
Under that situation it appears evident that it is important to eliminate the electrostatic energy too in order to achieve an optimum physiological rest. However eliminating this electrostatic energy appears difficult: none of the different elements of which bed fabrics consist is electrically conductive. More particularly covers disposed on mattresses and directly in contact with a resting person are not conductive.